USC Student Sells App for $50M

The founder, Zach Yadegari, is a 19-year-old freshman at the University of Miami, though he was rejected by USC. This is his second exit; at 16, he sold "Totally Science," a gaming website that bypassed school internet filters, for a six-figure sum. The app, Cal AI, was co-founded with Henry Langmack while they were still in high school. It simplifies calorie counting by using AI to estimate nutrition from a photo of a meal, a feature designed to eliminate tedious manual data entry. Cal AI scaled rapidly, amassing over 15 million downloads and generating more than $40 million in sales in the last year alone. Its growth was fueled by aggressive paid acquisition strategies, including campaigns with fitness influencers and performance ads on TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram. The acquisition by MyFitnessPal, which is owned by private equity firm Francisco Partners, followed nearly a year of discussions. The deal is part of a larger strategy by MyFitnessPal to innovate and attract younger consumers, following its acquisition of meal-planning app Intent and an integration with ChatGPT Health. Cal AI will continue to operate as a standalone product, but will now be integrated with MyFitnessPal's extensive database of over 20 million foods. The entire seven-person Cal AI team, including both co-founders, will join MyFitnessPal as part of the transaction. The deal highlights a major consolidation trend in the digital health space. Health and fitness apps monetize at twice the rate of most other categories and have the highest revenue per install of any app segment, making them attractive targets. Following the sale, Yadegari has mentioned he is now considering taking a "gap semester" from the University of Miami to focus on his next venture.